


Hidden Lord.

by Lanna Michaels (lannamichaels)



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Highlander: The Series
Genre: Community: contrelamontre, Connor MacLeod's missing victory, Crossover, Fusion, M/M, Podfic Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-06
Updated: 2009-01-06
Packaged: 2017-10-02 19:09:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannamichaels/pseuds/Lanna%20Michaels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's simpler this way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hidden Lord.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the contrelamontre thirty-four minute random title generator challenge.

It's simpler this way.

Well, not simpler. Not really. Not your average simpler. There are, in point of fact, many many multitudes of things more simpler than this.

But, yes. Quite, still, yes, and but. Simpler.

"Simpler than?" Methos prompts.

The Doctor considers. "Well. Simpler than a lot of things."

"Like?"

"Well," the Doctor draws out the word into six syllables. "Reality. Rewriting reality. Quite difficult. Probabilities. Laws of the universe. Half of physics. Much more difficult than this."

"So what's this?"

The Doctor stands back and considers his creation. Born fully adult, but still on the cusp of knowledge. He would be safe here. Yes. He would be safe here. He would be safe here, away from temptation and danger and meddling and silly, stupid, unyielding _reality_.

"Regeneration," he says. "Kinda." He holds out a watch, but does not offer it. "I'm going to keep this safe for you. I'll give it back when..." he trails off. "Haven't decided yet, actually. When I'll give it back. But I will!" He slipped the watch back into his pocket. "When...well, sometime."

Methos frowns. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't think of this as punishment, or prison, or...or exile." The Doctor rocks back on his heels. "Don't think of this as...well, I'm not going to trust you again, we're long past that, you and I. But I'll come get you someday. When I think I can trust myself with you and when I know what in the universe to do with you."

"So you're just leaving me." Methos says flatly, and the Doctor wishes suddenly, frantically, for somewhere, sometime else. He wishes for space ships and other worlds and a different choice, any other possible choice, and, for the first time, one thought above all else. But not this. Not a prison cell a lifetime wide.

"You could at least tell me," Methos says. "You can't just leave me here." He looked out into the desert. "What's out here for me? Is this really my second chance, Doctor?"

"More like sixteenth chance," the Doctor murmurs. "Except that I lost count." Then, louder, "this is Earth. Circa a time when you'll fit right in. There's a village down thataway, about two day's walk. I've put supplies in your pack. You tell them you're a wanderer, it'll be fine, they're good people."

"And am I? A wanderer?"

"Epically." The Doctor strokes the watch in his pocket. "You're one of the immortals now. You won't remember, and...oh, it doesn't matter. Just putting you here has up-ended their entire history as a species. I imagine their champion is waking up right now with one hell of a headache and a missing genocide. But that's neither here nor there right now, because you're here now. And you're going to keep being here until I come get you." No. No desperation. He would not allow Methos to remember him as desperate. "Remember that. I'm going to come back."

"When?" Methos closes the space between them in one large stride. "How can I know that, Doctor? _What am I?_"

The Doctor leans in and whispers. "Loved. Remember that."

Methos rests his head on the Doctor's shoulder, and the Doctor kisses his hair. "I will come back for you," the Doctor says. "And I would not do this, not go to these lengths, if I weren't. If I didn't."

"You need to trust me," the Doctor says, "that I know what I'm doing."

Letting him die would be so much easier. But this, this is better. Not easier, no. But better. So much better. Even if it is imprisoning him in an immortal body. Even if it is a lifetime of exile. It is. So much better.

And, in the cosmic scheme of things, it really is. Simpler. So much simpler than losing him again.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Hidden Lord [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/367736) by [tinypinkmouse_podfic (tinypinkmouse)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinypinkmouse/pseuds/tinypinkmouse_podfic)




End file.
